| Hector Mitchell | |
| Fullname: | Hector Matheson Mitchell |
| Birth Date: | 1887 8, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Warrnambool, Victoria |
| Death Place: | Singapore |
| Originalteam: | Warrnambool |
| Statsend: | 1908 |
| Years1: | 1908 |
| Club1: | St Kilda |
| Games Goals1: | 1 (0) |
Stoker Hector Matheson Mitchell (19 August 1887 – 16 June 1917) was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]
Mitchell, the second son of Andrew and Grace Mitchell, was born in Warrnambool.[2]
He was with St Kilda during the 1908 VFL season and played one senior game, in round 16, as one of three debutants in a 19-point loss to Collingwood at Victoria Park.[3] [4]
His football career was put on hold aged 21 when he enlisted in the Royal Navy, on 4 November 1908.[5] Mitchell, a stoker, was a member of the crew on board initially, then went to England on .[6] In England he was posted to, the first cruiser launched for the Royal Australian Navy.[7]
Once he returned to Australia, with his five-year term of service completed, Mitchell went to work at the Newport Workshops, where he remained for two years.[6] Around this time he played football for Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).[7]
Mitchell re-enlisted in August 1916 and served on HMAS Cerberus, before he was transferred to .[6]
On board HMAS Swan, which was in operation with British blockade forces in the Far East, Mitchell began suffering from an illness, described in one source as "brain fever".[7] [8] He was sent to a hospital in Singapore, where he died from the illness on 16 June 1917, aged 29.[7] [9] Buried with full naval honors, he now rests at Singapore's Kranji War Cemetery.[9] [10]